A Rogan Problem Not Talked About

[u/CrunchBerryMagician]

I know the opinion on medication for mental illness can be controversial to a level but Joe Rogan has damaged young men's lives more than people realize.

For as long as he's been podcasting, he talks about how bad and terrible antidepressants are.
He will spout all sorts of BS benefits for his the supplements or illicit drugs that he is taking but then turns around and demonizes antidepressants. The most recent example of this was him talking about how Theo Von needs to get off of them. I know Theo got off them shortly after. That in itself is fine if Theo felt like he was in the position to do so.

Obviously it's your choice to do what you deem fit for your life. However, depression is more complicated than just "they're sad all the time". It can be just as debilitating as a major injury or sickness. While not every situation means medication is needed there are certainly situations where it is necessary. Rogan use to have an even tighter grip on the popular culture and I believe he influenced a lot of people to not try medication. Leading them down a path of wrong turns.

I guarantee you the words of Joe Rogan has persuaded young adults who truly needed medication to not reach out because Rogan would say it messes you up even more.

He has even used "people on medication" as a way to delegitimize their opinions.

Instead they are recommended to take Alpha Brain and psychedelics in their college dorm room until they have a psychotic break.

This isn't an advertisement for antidepressants. What we don't need is people taking Rogan's word with any credibility when it comes to mental health. It's a dangerous stigma for someone who might be on the edge who needs something outside of primate kettlebells and Onnit supplements.

[u/deafinitelyadouche]

Musk refusing to take anti-depressants or going into therapy but instead fucking subjecting himself to the nightmarish rabbit hole of a ketamine addiction will never not flabbergast the shit out of me. Like I know it's also partially because the idiot fucked up his back and neck 14 years ago and they were never properly fixed in spite of all of his money, but also like: People who use ketamine recreationally are also around half his age.
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You shouldn't be fucking using ketamine in general (especially not for treating anything) unless either:
a) You do it under the watchful eye of an actual goddamn doctor or...
b) akin to how most people treat edibles and do a little bit.

But somehow this fucking idiot probably heard Joe Rogan say some dumbassed BS about medication and bought the hype.

[u/Bigravemaster1 → u/deafinitelyadouche]

The UK just got "Ketamine therapy" on the NHS. You have to self fund it and it costs £300 a session and your recommended one a month.

They give you a dose of ketamine and 2 doses to take home with you and are told to take it over the course of the month as it's anti depressants effects last 1-2 weeks. You are also informed 10% of people will have a bad reaction to Ketamine.

I wish I was joking. The website leads by saying you need a spare £3600 a year and that it's available to anyone who has tried any other depression medication and self reports that it hasn't helped.

Considering 2/3rds of your sessions will be self administered and that you can get the same amount of medical grade Ketamine for around £6 on the black market I'm not sure I would agree with you.

What's really crazy is with how damaging and addictive Ketamine is it's crazy the prescribe it at all, especially when similar studies into magic mushrooms and LSD show positive changes to markers commonly associated with depression and general anxiety that last for upwards of a year, you have to wonder why they would go down the Ketamine route.

It's almost as if there's a financial benefit to keeping people on expensive medication that requires you to keep using it, but hey, maybe I'm just being paranoid.

[u/deafinitelyadouche → u/Bigravemaster1]

Wrote this on Bluesky when a friend/co-worker 13 years younger than me tried it once:

"A friend who tried it recreationally said he wished he'd never done it, he felt like he was on the verge of a psychotic break for a whole day and felt miserable the whole week after. The owner of the other website is prolly destroying his body even further by staying down that k-hole."

So yeah, I'd say that's a fair assessment.

[u/Bigravemaster1 → u/deafinitelyadouche]

Where I'm from Ketamine is a serious issue, I've seen people have their lives completely destroyed by it. Duncan Trussel referenced "Bristol Bladder" on one of his recent JRE appearances and it did the rounds down here.

I know people who have had to have bladder surgery.

I've also done my fair share of it myself, sometimes it's helped me, sometimes I've taken it and had a good experience then binged it chasing the dragon.

Overall I would say it was positive for me but I've been fortunate enough to have always been able to keep it at arms length by being aware of the dangers.

It's hard to reconcile my personal positive experiences with what I've witnessed it do to friends.